In my last blog entry, I promised to blog about the PASS Summit each night when I got back to the room. This was a failure for two reasons. 1. I was always out at night and then exhausted. 2. I forgot the keyboard to my Surface Pro. I tweeted about it, and was picked on by the @surface twitter account:
But I did tweet about the event rather ...

Last year I started a new tradition for myself that will last until I specifically retire from the SQL Server community, something that I practically promise isn't coming in next year's resolutions. As this is the end of the PASS year, with the Summit coming up next week, it is time to see how I did with regards to what I said I would do. I didn't ...

Many years I have tried early in the year to list a set of “New Year’s Resolutions” but one thing I have noted every year is it isn’t New Year’s Day that is the defining part of my year, but rather it is the PASS Summit that defines my year. Usually, by the time the end of October rolls around, I am pretty spent. The summer has ended, and all of ...

Today, I was awarded (at least) one more time with the Microsoft MVP Award. This makes 12 years, and with this, my 11th renewal, I have yet to feel like it is something I can take for granted (you don’t want to be around me the last week of September!). It has been a great time so far, and I have no idea how many years I will be back (admittedly, ...

Mercy, July is flying past at breakneck pace isn't it? The best part of July passing into the history books is that August has me speaking at two SQL Saturday's, one of them being a first time for me.
On August 8 I will travel up to Indianapolis for SQL Saturday #402, a city I have been to a few times previously but not for a SQL Saturday. My ...

2012 was, simply stated, a year that kicked my butt. When I wasn't struggling professionally, I was struggling personally. Health issues, culminating in a diagnosis of Type II diabetes, and the passing of my father soon after Thanksgiving marked my biggest struggles. I apologize to those of you who are normally on my Christmas ...

I admit it. I am tired and I have not blogged nearly enough. This has been a crazy year, with the book I finished writing, the pre-cons I have done (teaching is NOT my primary profession so I do a lot more prep than some others probably do), lots of training on Data Warehousing topics (from Ralph Kimball, Bob Becker, and Stacia Misner, to name ...